Being a fan of the Pikmin series since its debut in 2001, I was very excited to get my hands on the latest Pikmin game coming out in August on Wii U. Pikmin 3 may not contain any old characters aside from the Pikmin, but contains a brand new control scheme, pretty visuals, and new ways to command your Pikmin army. I got to play co-op in one stage of mission mode.
The level I played is one Nintendo has shown in the past. It uses both red Pikmin and the new Rock Pikmin. I worked with a partner to collect as many treasures as I could before time ran out. There were only a limited amount of Pikmin in the level and I constantly found myself stealing my partner’s Pikmin when they finished dropping off goodies to our ship.
The new control scheme using Wii Motion Plus and the nunchuck feels so much more precise in comparison to the Wii Remote and nunchuck controls of Pikmin 2 on Wii. I was able to move the cursor around much more easily as Wii Motion Plus allows for better control.
New editions to the controls include a feature called raid mode. Pressing Z on the nunchuck will put a cursor in the center of the screen. I can move it around using the Wii Remote to a point I wanted my Pikmin to go to. When shaking the nunchuck at my target, my entire Pikmin party rushed to the scene. It’s a great way take down barriers or to temporarily get your Pikmin to focus on one specific task.
While the red Pikmin play as expected, the Rock Pikmin will cause more damage to enemies when being thrown at them and can take down glass. Throwing them against glass and watching the glass break could not be more satisfying.
Playing Pikmin cooperatively was a lot of fun. There is a lot of strategy to the game and mission mode will be something fans will go back to again and again. While I was unable to try out the game’s story or the new bingo multiplayer mode, I walked away with a great impression of what already looked to be a promising game. Pikmin 3 will release on August 4.
